When it comes to the hurricane of comic book movies that defines our current pop culture
moment, it's hard to believe it all started with just one guy.
"I am Iron Man."
Before Iron Man, there was no Marvel Cinematic Universe, and when Iron Man premiered in 2008,
no one could have possibly anticipated that this box office gamble would anchor one of
the most successful series in film history.
We'll be living with Iron Man's influence for years to come.
But when it comes to a new solo outing for Iron Man, we might just have to live without
one.
Here's why it's doubtful at best that fans will ever get to see Iron Man 4.
The cast is too expensive
For years, Robert Downey, Jr. has been the charismatic center of the Avengers initiative.
He anchored the first movie, had the first face-to-face meeting with Nick Fury, and starred
in the first Marvel trilogy — and he pulls in the big bucks to go with it.
Thanks to his role as Tony Stark, he's become one of the most valuable actors in the world,
with an earning capacity estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
And he's not the only superstar on the roster: Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle are in these
movies, too, and they both draw down big paychecks every time they appear.
In the end, the performers' salaries alone means it may be easier to make a profit on
a Squirrel Girl movie than another overstuffed Iron Man sequel.
They're running out of storylines
Another problem with continuing Iron Man's solo big screen adventures is that his most
notable comic book stories have already been adapted — except for the famous addiction
arc "Demon in a Bottle," but that'll be a hard sell as long as family-friendly Disney
is in charge.
There's a way around this problem, though: telling an Iron Man story without Stark.
In the current run of Invincible Iron Man, the protagonist is a young woman, Riri Williams,
who takes up the mantle of Iron Man before eventually carving out her own identity as
a new hero named Ironheart.
But considering how intertwined Robert Downey, Jr. is with this character, it'll be a hard
sell to get audiences to flock to an Iron Man movie without the original hero attached.
"Is that Iron Man?"
"Technically, I am."
A new age of heroes
The untitled fourth Avengers film after Infinity War is bringing something new to the franchise:
a sense of finality.
All the original Avengers actors—Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett
Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, and Jeremy Renner—are reaching the end of their contracts, and none
of them are expected to return.
Instead, we'll have a slate of new heroes including Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Wasp,
Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange taking center stage as the long saga of the Infinity Stones
draws to a close.
Now that the stakes are so high in the overarching story of the MCU, it's going to be more meaningful
to have all of the Avengers take their final bow together than to put out another Tony
Stark solo movie.
Iron Man is already everywhere
When the MCU started, the movies weren't as interconnected, easing audiences into the
"shared universe" concept with hints and references rather than a truly serialized story.
Eventually, Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury and the S.H.I.E.L.D.
organization tied everything together.
But now, Tony Stark plays that role.
He propels the events of Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming, and
with Captain America on the run, it falls to him to be the de facto leader of the team.
Basically, when he's already popping up everywhere else, we don't really need a fourth Iron Man
movie to see Iron Man anymore.
"Oh I'm not… here.
Thank god this place has wifi or you would be toast right now."
Audiences are ready for something new
Since Iron Man, the MCU has begun to play with other worlds and dimensions, from the
Quantum Realm of Ant-Man to the multiverse of Doctor Strange — and the success of Guardians
of the Galaxy further demonstrated that viewers are ready for their comic book adaptations
to get a little weird.
Now that the studio has started to explore this fun new territory, it's hard to imagine
they'll go back.
Why continue cataloging the minutia of Iron Man's life when there are entirely new galaxies
out there to explore?
Iron Man 3 was a perfect ending
Iron Man 3 just felt like the end of Tony Stark's solo adventures.
The movie really dives into the deeper meaning of Iron Man, Pepper Potts wears the suit twice
in the movie, and the climax, is an insane action sequence in which Stark summons dozens
of Iron Man suits to save him from an unstable, explosive villain.
"Is that?"
"Yep."
"Are those?"
"Yeah."
Plus, this movie made us analyze Tony Stark and Iron Man as separate entities, before
ultimately reconciling them in its satisfying conclusion.
So okay, we won't say no to another movie if they want to make one — but if the near-perfect
Iron Man 3 is going to be the end of Tony Stark's stand-alone series, it's hard to imagine
a better one.
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